


A Stark Christmas

by JonJonny



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:06:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21943354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JonJonny/pseuds/JonJonny
Summary: Christmas after the snap can be difficult. Thankfully, Morgan is doing her best to make Tony happy.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	A Stark Christmas

**December 25, 2022**

Tony had been in battle enough times that he’d lost count of how often he’d been woken up only to battle the newest impending threat or throw on the Iron Man suit in a matter of minutes. For a few years, he’d slept with his phone under his pillow, always prepared for the next emergency to strike. However, no amount of battle could prepare him for waking up to tiny fists beating softly at his chest.

He opened his eyes to see Morgan above him, her brown hair ruffled by a Santa hat placed haphazardly on her head. “Daddy, Daddy, Wake up!” she said, excitedly prodding at his cheek with her finger like he was a possum playing dead. “It’s Christmas!”

"We know you're awake, Tony," Pepper added from behind Morgan, wearing pointed plastic ears and a greet hat with red trim and a pointed top.

“I didn’t know you were an elf, babe,” he said. He lifted Morgan up, gently swinging her off his chest and onto the floor. He pushed himself off the bed and looked up to Pepper with a smirk, tugging at the sharp end of her fake ear.

“You’re only smug because you haven’t seen the accessories Morgan chose for you,” she whispered, before bending down and addressing Morgan. “Why don’t you show Daddy his outfit for today?”

Morgan nodded excitedly before grabbing Tony’s hand and eagerly jerking it forward towards the door. “Come on, Daddy,” she chattered, “Mommy already made breakfast, but she helped me make some decorations and I have a present for you and my friend from school...” Her voice drifted off into a babble as she led him to the living room, which featured a tall pine tree decorated mostly with brightly-colored ornaments, red lights, and gold and silver-colored ribbons. There were two black leather chairs and a miniature purple seat pulled up around it, just outside the circle of gifts surrounding the tree.

After a two hour negotiation over gift-giving—wherein Tony insisted that he’d always dozens of gifts each Christmas when he was young and his kid deserved just as much, and Pepper asked him to consider exactly how difficult he’d been when he was young—they’d settled on six carefully-selected gifts, ranging from new clothes to some more child-friendly inventions from Stark Industries.

Morgan let go of his hand and ran for a bag in the corner, where she pulled out a couple items and returned to her parents. She handed Tony a red sphere with a small button on top and an attached elastic band and a hat with faux reindeer ears and plush antlers sticking out, “Here, try it on!”

“Of course, Champ,” he said, smiling brightly at her and ignoring the voice in his head—the one that sounded like his father—that said grown men shouldn’t wear antlers. He pulled the elastic band over his head and let the bump rest on his nose. “It’s great.”

Pepper glanced at Tony from the side with a small smile on her face, “Ah, I see that you’re now Director of Transportation for Santa Claus industries. It’s a very prestigious position, Tony.”

“Hey, don’t get too smug on me,” he replied, tapping her hat so it fell slightly askew. “I think being Director of Transportation is just as good as being Head Elf.”

“Wait,” Morgan interrupted, pulling at Tony’s sleeve. “You have to turn it on.” Morgan gestured for him to bend down, then pressed the bottom on top of the sphere. After a few seconds, it lit up brightly, casting a red glow on his face.

Pepper covered her mouth to muffle a laugh and Morgan looked up in approval at Tony’s nose. He tried to cover his nose only for the light to shine through on his hands, so he squatted down to Morgan, “Okay, now that my nose is glowing, do you want to start unwrapping your gifts, squirt?”

“No,” she shook her head, placing her hands on her hips and pressing her lips tightly together in mock seriousness. “I give you your gift first.”

“Oh, and what’s my gift?”

She didn't answer and instead popped down to the floor, slipping below the tree to grab a slip of paper he hadn’t noticed. She stood back up and cleared the wrinkles from the paper with her hands, before proudly presenting it to Tony while chirping, “Merry Christmas!”

It was a drawing of a two guys holding hands done in colored pencils. On the left, there was an older man, with lines to indicate slight wrinkles and dark brown dots for eyes. His smile was slightly covered by a dark mustache and goatee, and his body was a stick figure except for the wide rectangle representing his chest with yellow and red coloring and a blue triangle in the center. “Dad” was neatly written below.

“Mommy wrote the words for me,” Morgan chimed in, and Tony nodded, too focused on the next part of the drawing.

The guy on the right was younger. His eyes were warm brown circles and his wide smile went right up to the edges of his face. His fluffy brown hair was drawn with swirls and his ears stuck out prominently from his head. His body was drawn much the same as Tony’s, except shorter and the rectangle of his chest was drawn in red and black with a spider in the middle. He stood above more lettering reading “Peter.”

Tony took in a breath and examined the drawing over again, tracing the lines of Peter’s smile and the part where their hands connected. He hadn’t even thought of him today; instead, looking at his photo while he did the dishes for Christmas Eve and silently wishing he was happy, wherever he was. Would Peter laugh at Tony wearing a glowing red nose?  _ The kid might even wear one himself _ , he thought. “Where’d you get the idea for this?” he asked, looking away from the picture for the first time in two minutes to face his daughter.

“You’re always looking at that photo of him,” she said, beaming up at him. “I thought you must really like him.”

Tony lifted Morgan up and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her into a strong bear hug. “I do, and I really like this gift too.”

“Yay!” she exclaimed, lifting her small arms up in the victory of giving a good gift.  _ She’s a lot like him _ , Tony realized, watching the way her alert brown eyes scanned his face for approval. He could imagine Peter arriving late after walking kids across a street or helping the man at the local deli, talking to Pepper and hiding a silver-wrapped gift addressed to “Mr. Stark” behind his back. Tony would hug him if he was there, he knew.

But Morgan was here. His daughter, who frankly drew way better than any of the other parents’ lame kids, was digging her face into his shoulder, and he set the drawing down carefully before tightening his grip around her. “Love you 3000,” he whispered.

“Love you 3000,” she said back.


End file.
